Hospital Marketing Journal

making a better impression tips to improve your digital marketing

by Brandon Scott Digital marketing is a critical ingredient for success when it comes to attracting patients, educating them about your service lines and converting them into customers. It augments your print, broadcast and outdoor advertising with highly targeted and highly personalized content that speaks directly to prospects and existing patients. Done right, digital marketing instantly captivates your audience, irresistibly drawing them in and making the kind of positive impression that inspires them to learn more.   It starts with great website design. We’re not talking about pretty here, although visual appeal is fundamentally important. We’re talking about “feel.” Your website has to convey your hospital’s personal side. Hospitals treat people, and there’s nothing more personal than healthcare. Besides, all purchasing decisions have an emotional aspect, including choosing a hospital, doctor or services. Demonstrating competence is critical, of course, but compassion and empathy win the day. So make your website less clinical. More personal. Great website design also includes spot-on SEO that ensures searchers find you easily. It includes obvious navigation, graphics that directly support your content topic and a clear call to action on every page to guide their decision-making choices.   Content that works is strategically planned. Everything you say or show online underscores the fact that customers can count on you. Web pages, your blog, email and social media work together to inform people about who you are as well as what you do. You’re using compelling stories and visuals to relate amazing patient experiences – the kind of caring care every prospective patient hopes to receive. You understand. You’re people, too. Content that differentiates your hospital and your people from the competition increases market share and develops life-long relationships.   Social media link you with patients and colleagues. Nothing is more multi-generational than social media, and sharing reinforces your brand. You can reach patients and also care-givers responsible for patient healthcare decisions. Social media posts are short and sweet. They’re eminently two-way, perfect for ongoing engagement. Offer links to your other content. Or health tips. Share photos that demonstrate wellness. Give a face and voice to your staff -- not just physicians but nurses, technicians, others that have patient contact. Your hospital’s “bedside manner” is a composite of interactions. Participate in a few carefully-chosen groups or circles or communities, too, to expand your professional development and generate referrals.   Mobilize your resources. Smartphones and tablets are becoming the search devices of choice, so you’re wise to directly target mobile searchers. They’re usually looking for practical information -- directions to your hospital or to some department, your doctor directory, how to make an appointment – rather than conducting lengthy research. Response rates to texting are impressively high. So target your mobile audience with  appointment or prescription reminders, information about wait times, upcoming classes, etc. Add QR codes to your print ads so readers can follow up instantly with a quick click of their mobile camera. And use geo-targeting. Mobile searchers tend to be nearby. Above all else, remember this: small screens require concise presentation that fits their format. So optimize your all your content specifically for your mobile audience. Make it easy, and they’ll love you for it. Digital marketing can do amazing things for your hospital. But only if you track and analyze your progress in meaningful ways. You’ll get valuable insight about patient needs and preferences. You’ll quickly see what’s working and what needs work to strengthen your marketing results. What does your digital marketing say about your hospital?

Content Marketing: 6 Tips for a Healthy Hospital

by Brandon Scott Content marketing connects your hospital to patients, their families and others who use your services. It extends your reach, making you more broadly visible to prospective customers. And all that helps grow your business and your market share, for a healthier bottom line. How can content marketing work for you? Be overtly helpful, not just informative. Content delivers added value when it allays fears, inspires, or simply generates smiles. It’s memorable when your audience learned something new. Or had an “ah ha” moment. Your content can teach customers about trending medical issues, help them become proactive about maintaining their own wellness, manage a chronic illness more effectively, understand an upcoming procedure or simply find a doctor.   Truly useful content builds credibility and authority, but when it also demonstrates your willingness to freely share your special tips and insight, it makes you seem more approachable. That strengthens comfort level and confidence.   Focus on them. You’ve heard this before, but we can’t stress it enough: content that doesn’t play to your audience’s needs and desires will simply fall flat. Leverage your earned authority for the benefit of those who follow you. This signifies clear intent and provides a solid engagement to educate and convert your audience.    Healthcare consumers aren’t one size fits all, so your solutions never should be either. And that means your content marketing topics, formats and delivery platforms must to be varied, too. Give them what they want, the way they want it. This incrementally builds stronger relationships based on trust.   Put them in the picture. A picture’s worth…well, you know. Your content should include lots of photos, especially those that feature people. Infographics are also great, because they can encapsulate a significant amount of information in a visually appealing and readily digestible presentation. They’re very simple to share, and you can use them in printed form, too.   And let’s not forget video. Short but packed with meaty information, videos are an excellent way to demonstrate your newest equipment, educate patients about an upcoming experience or teach at home techniques. Be the resource people can “check out” via YouTube and share with friends via links.   Spark the conversation. The end-user experience is so critical to your content development. Ask yourself “what would I do with the content as a consumer?” If your response feels uninspired, then a change should be made.   Often, the trick is to find the hanging fruit consumers are already talking about, then add your voice to the discussion. Follow-up with a simple question or challenge your audience can instantly comment on. This gives your content exponential value.   Everyone likes a good story. Stories illustrate your compassion as well as your competence. Real-life examples of your hospital at work underscore your specific value and humanize your brand. You’re not just some enormous institution. Real-life examples of your hospital at play – perhaps participating in a community project – demonstrate your value as a good neighbor. This shows you care enough to get out there and get involved.   Tell personal stories about your docs or other providers – Dr. Suzy Smith loves paddleboarding, John Doe, RN is a talented painter. These are real people, just like their patients. Relatable. Trustworthy.   Commitment + creativity spells success. Content marketing is a glorious opportunity to talk up the “little extras” that give your patients a better experience. Maybe it’s pet therapy. Or art therapy. Healthy cooking classes. Your new lightning-fast admission process. Or your new live-chat-with-a-nurse program.   Innovative thinking sets you apart from the competition, and people love it. They expect outstanding medical care, but they expect personalized attention, too. Content that tells how you’re making things more pleasant or convenient proves you’re patient-oriented.   You think you’re selling your hospital. But what you’re really “selling” is personal relationships. Content marketing can establish you as the premier, personalized resource for health and wellness. That’s branding you can count on to keep your hospital and your community healthy.

Hospital Advertising Needs a Shot in the Arm. STAT!

by Jon Headlee So much of hospital marketing is the same old...stuff. Boring. Expected. Physician-driven. Trite. We get it — you're close to home. Convenient. You have the most advanced technology. A robot. 95 doctors, who, amazingly, can all fit on one billboard. We've heard it before. You’ve heard it before. Who cares? Okay, maybe we're being harsh. But sometimes the truth hurts. And we’re here to take a stand — because, as hospital marketers, we're better than that. If we can’t clearly express what makes a brand different — and why that matters — then we’ll never grow out of the status quo. Communicating a brand isn’t about reciting a tagline — it’s about building something that lives and breathes the brand — through every interaction your hospital has with its people.   Selling The Expected? Don't Expect to Seal the Deal. Believe it or not, patients can actually choose where they want to go for care. So, to get people in the door, your hospital has to be seen as more than a high-quality (ugh — another ambiguous phrase) healthcare facility. Yes, patients want to be treated with brilliant minds and brilliant technology. And, yes, as marketers, we should make those points clear. But those points should only play a supporting role. Because the Oscar goes to the message that can wrap your patients in a warm blanket of confidence in your brand. After all, your competition is offering a lot of the same stuff. (And, sometimes, they're doing a better job.) So, put faces on your people. (Just please, don't squeeze all those faces on a single billboard.) Show off your softer side (but be transparent + believable). Give your audience a feeling about your brand — not just information about your brand.   Relatability + Credibility Builds Trust. So how do we do this? We think like our customer. We establish a common ground with them — before they need us. We get on their level. We are empathetic — and in the healthcare industry, it’s something we should all be pretty good at. When we do that — when we market the ‘why’ and not the ‘what’ — we are saying “I understand what you need and why you need it, so choose me.” We become a partner. We become a trusted resource. So, here’s the tough question for today — where does your hospital marketing stand? Soul search for a bit — if all that soul-searching produces feelings of sheepish anxiety or even a yawn or two, know this — no worries. So, you’ve got some work to do. But, the good news is, once you figure out the secret sauce of your hospital, you’re on the path to a great recipe that will out taste-test all the other bland hospital advertising we’ve been choking down all these years. And, remember, if you ever need help in the kitchen, we know some pretty good chefs.

Prevention is Power

by Jon Headlee Prevention is a pretty simple concept to grasp — find the cause of some undesirable outcome...and avoid it. (Which can also mean taking proactive steps that lead to optimal outcomes.) But, as marketers, we all know this: getting people on board with prevention is not quite so easy. After all, not only do we have to lead the horse to water — but we have to figure out how to get him to drink. Prevention and wellness should be leading the charge in our thinking when it comes to marketing our hospitals, but we've got to know how to inspire our patients to get on-board and be accountable to their own health.   An Ounce of Prevention Personal awareness plays an important role in prevention. But, many times, that's the toughest nut to crack — because many of us just don't have a realistic picture of ourselves, especially in terms of our own health. That's why we need a partner to help us get a clear perspective — that could be a spouse, a parent, sure — but, ideally, this person is a doctor (who has less of a personal bias than a family member). Clinicians are working to develop models that can better predict outcomes so that doctors can see the signs and find opportunities for early interventions. We all know that an increased emphasis on prevention and wellness is going to help with rising health care costs — as well as improving outcomes. And, the birth of the mighty EMR is generating vast amounts of patient information that can give us new insights about prevention in real-time. Providers can focus on population health management and outcomes rather than on episodic care that only looks at the symptoms of the moment. Prevention is a strategy. And it touches every aspect of our hospital and its operations — long-term planning, marketing, our culture and the way we deliver services.   Strategic Planning The Affordable Care Act is no longer this thing looming in the distant future. It's here. And it's real. While this is scary to some folks, luckily, smart marketers like us are armed with the knowledge that, by focusing on prevention, we can come out ahead of the rest of the pack. So, exactly how do we increase patient awareness and get them excited about wellness? Major changes in technology have enabled our staff and patients to access information faster — and to use it more effectively. Mobile diagnosis and even treatment increases convenience and immediacy — and provides that instant gratification our society has groomed us to crave. Our consumers are more mobile than ever — they want to interact with us. They want an experience. So let's give them what they want!   Marketing As hospital marketers, we must position our hospitals as places of prevention and wellness. We must provide an experience that is rooted in prevention, in wellness. This requires a holistic approach to content development and delivery, whether we're engaging patients digitally, traditionally or in person. Smartphones are a vital tool to distributing our marketing messages and even health information. In fact, the ability to interact with doctors and health coaches via text message is becoming increasingly popular, giving patients the health relationship they crave. The experience they are looking for. We can use technology and communication tools to build our reputation as trusted resources.   Culture If we expect patients to take charge of their own wellness, then we should expect the same from our employees. After all, if a patient is holding themselves to a high standard, they certainly hold us to one that’s even higher. Not fair, but it's reality. Our interactions with them have to be relevant. Believable. After all, taking health advice from a physician who could obviously take some of his or her own advice is a pretty tough pill for a patient to swallow. We have to walk the talk — and practice what we preach. This builds credibility — and can inspire patients to make changes of their own. Focusing on prevention will also affect how we interact with our corporate audiences. Our industry partners, from our own physicians to insurance and pharmaceutical companies, will have to work more closely with us to achieve positive outcomes. How will each of our roles change? And how will we benefit?   Operations By focusing our business model on prevention, we can provide an efficient back-office experience that eliminates inefficiencies and frustrations — and helps build a healthier organization, both financially and operationally. It enables us to be more proactive than ever, to achieve the ideal healthy state for our hospital. Prevention is a powerful tool in every hospital marketer's bag of tricks. What does a prevention-oriented future look like for you and your hospital?

The Power of Believing

by Scott Mosley I recently had the privilege of accompanying Jon Headlee to the 4th Annual Becker’s Hospital Review Meeting in Chicago. I got to see a few old friends and left the three-day meeting with some strong impressions reinforced. I was reminded that Lou Holtz is every bit as entertaining of a speaker as he was when I had occasion to hear him during our mutual time in Arkansas. His Friday morning keynote message was simple and on-point. Attitude trumps talent in the game of life. Holtz – a master of motivation – should know. In his address, Holtz mentioned the 1978 Orange Bowl at which the Arkansas Razorbacks entered as overwhelming underdogs to the #2 ranked Oklahoma Sooners, coached by Barry Switzer – a Crossett, Arkansas boy. As an Arkansas native, myself, I remember the game well. The Sooners had a national title in their grasp and were 24-point favorites since just prior to the game Holtz had to suspend three star players for team rule violations. Among them was Ben Cowins, the Razorback’s much-heralded star running back. Arkansas was given little chance of victory. Although the suspended players and fans protested, Holtz refused to back down and the suspensions stood. The #1 Texas Longhorns had lost earlier on New Year’s Day, and everyone knew for certain that Oklahoma would leave the game as national champions. Everyone but Holtz, that is, and a second string running back by the name of Roland Sales. Sales was handed the unenviable and overwhelming assignment of filling in for the suspended Cowins. Well, the outcome is history. Roland Sales caught four passes for 52 yards and two touchdowns and carried the ball 22 times for 205 yards, more than half his total for the entire preceding season. His performance set an Orange Bowl record that stood for 20 years until Ahman Green carried for 206 yards in 1998. Under Holtz’ leadership, Arkansas defeated Oklahoma 31-6 in one of the best ballgames I’ve ever seen. Arkansas finished #3 that year, behind Notre Dame and Alabama. But, I don’t think Holtz saw it that way. Arkansas outplayed Oklahoma in one of the most unlikely exhibitions of attitude and spirit I ever hope to see. Yes, it’s only football. But I think it’s impossible not to draw some parallels. It’s good for us to be reminded of the true power in leadership, teamwork and motivation. Holtz would call it the “power of believing.” Whatever you call it, it’s a vital ingredient in healthcare’s recipe for success. To view the Keynote presentation Winning Every Day: A Game Plan For Success by Coach Lou Holtz, click here.